A scientometric analysis was conducted to evaluate the research landscape and emerging trends in the field of nutrient-rich marine microalgae in advancing sustainable aquaculture feeds and development, finding promising role of microalgae food technologies in augmenting fish productivity, growth, value-added production, resource-use efficiency and sustainable aquaculture development contributing to circular blue economy.
The demand for high‐quality protein has been growing in recent years, led by population growth. The development of aquaculture has been considered one of the solutions to ensure food security worldwide. New farming technologies have been promoted to increase productivity and, at the same time, minimize environmental impacts. During the past decades, biofloc technology (BFT) has emerged as a sustainable and cost‐efficient culture method. In terms of its optimization, BFT can be integrated with other aquaculture systems, such as integrated multi‐trophic aquaculture (IMTA) and aquaponics, which is called FLOCponics. Biological compatibility among different cultivated organisms poses a key challenge for the integration of species. The proper combination of species with different trophic levels can control dissolved nutrients and organic matter that often build up in BFT. Recent studies revealed that macroalgae and marine fish can promote better water quality when integrated with shrimp produced in BFT. In addition, the microbial and nutrient‐rich content of biofloc effluents enables water reuse over multiple culture cycles or nutrient uptake by plants in FLOCponics. These different approaches are aligned with principles of circular economy and promote better input utilization and efficiency. This review investigates biofloc as the basis of IMTA and FLOCponics, presents key literature related to biofloc‐based integrated systems, and discusses current bottlenecks and future perspectives.
Unknown authors· Journal of the World Aquacul...· 0 citations
Global energy demands and fossil fuel environmental impacts necessitate sustainable renewable alternatives. Seaweed (macroalgae), as a third-generation feedstock, offers a promising solution. This review evaluates the potential of seaweed-derived biofuels, including bioethanol, biogas, and biodiesel. It examines the classification, morphology, and biochemical composition of brown, red, and green algae, highlighting their suitability for biomass conversion. Furthermore, the review analyzes cultivation methodologies, essential pretreatment techniques, and specific biochemical pathways for biofuel production. While acknowledging seaweed’s potential, critical challenges are addressed, including cultivation demands, species specificity, complex biomass structures, cost-effectiveness, and scalability. Special emphasis is placed on regional perspectives and policy hurdles in the Arab world. By synthesizing current advancements, this review provides strategic insights into seaweed-based biorefineries’ role in fostering a circular bioeconomy, contributing to global energy security and environmental sustainability.
Unknown authors· Journal of Umm Al-Qura Unive...· 0 citations
Seaweed-based biostimulants have emerged as promising sustainable agricultural inputs due to their potential to enhance crop productivity, improve nutrient use efficiency, and increase tolerance to abiotic stresses, thereby reducing dependence on synthetic fertilizers. However, the environmental performance of their production systems remains insufficiently quantified. This study presents a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) of a formulated seaweed-based biostimulant derived from Kappaphycus alvarezii, based on representation of a real-world industrial-scale production system in India. Environmental impacts were evaluated across cultivation, biomass transport, sap extraction, and packaging stages using the ReCiPe 2016 midpoint method, with a functional unit of 1 L of packaged commercial seaweed biostimulant at the factory gate. Results indicate that the baseline raft-cultivation system, climate change impact was 0.123 kg CO2-eq per L of packaged commercial biostimulant. Packaging accounts for approximately 74% of cradle-to-gate climate change impacts, primarily due to plastic material production, while extraction contributes ∼21%, largely driven by electricity consumption (>92% within the stage). In contrast, cultivation contributes less than 5% of total cradle-to-gate impacts, with wild harvest having higher impact across most categories compared to raft-based methods. Within raft-based cultivation, polypropylene ropes (53.4%) and HDPE nets (34.6%) account for nearly 88% of impacts, whereas diesel use dominates wild harvesting (∼86.4%). Also, sensitivity analysis shows that increasing transport distance from 50 km to 300 km can increase total climate change impacts by ∼45. An additional multimodal transport scenario (road–sea–road), representing potential international biomass sourcing, resulted in higher transport-related impacts but did not alter the identification of packaging and extraction as the dominant environmental hotspots. Packaging sensitivity analysis indicates that replacing 50% of virgin HDPE with recycled material reduces overall climate change impacts by ∼18.40%. An exploratory baseline substitution scenario, based on nutrient-equivalent offsets of potassium and phosphorus using a system expansion approach, indicates that partial substitution of conventional fertilizers can reduce climate change impacts by approximately 17%. This represents a conservative estimate because it excludes additional field-validated biostimulant effects, such as improved nutrient-use efficiency and crop productivity, which may provide further environmental benefits.
Unknown authors· Industrial & Engineering...· 0 citations
: Aquaculture has emerged as the fastest-growing food sector globally, surpassing capture fisheries in 2022, and is increasingly vital for food security. Yet, sustainability challenges persist due to reliance on fishmeal, synthetic additives, and nutritionally limited live feeds such as Artemia and rotifers. Copepods, the most abundant marine zooplankton, are increasingly recognized as next-generation live feed owing to their superior biochemical composition, including high levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), balanced amino acids, carotenoids, and bioactive compounds. Their natural role as prey for fish larvae ensures ecological relevance and nutritional adequacy, driving enhanced larval survival, pigmentation, immunity, and stress resilience. Comparative evidence consistently demonstrates that copepods outperform conventional feeds, often without the need for enrichment. Advances in mass culture techniques, microalgal integration, and biotechnological innovations are steadily transforming copepod production from experimental practice to scalable application. Beyond aquaculture, copepod-derived bioactives hold translational potential for nutraceutical and therapeutic industries, reinforcing their role in the circular bioeconomy. However, commercialisation bottlenecks persist, particularly in India, where copepod culture remains at the research stage. The ornamental fish industry, valued at over USD 15 billion, further underscores the indispensability of nutritionally rich live feeds.
Efgin Ann, V. Ramasubramanian· International Journal of Sci...· 0 citations
Diatoms are integral to aquatic food webs, facilitating energy transfer and driving the carbon cycle. Their high photosynthetic efficiency supports higher trophic levels, sustaining biodiversity and regulating ecosystem stability. They have gained considerable attention in the biotechnology field due to their unique biochemical composition, particularly their abundance of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Diatoms are a sustainable, highly nutritious aquafeed alternative, offering superior nutrition, optimal cell size, and digestibility amid growing demand and limitations of conventional fishmeal and soybean-based feeds. Recent advances in large-scale diatom cultivation and bioprocessing highlight their viability for commercial aquafeed applications, offering enhanced growth performance, improved immunity, and superior fillet quality in farmed species. Furthermore, diatom-based feeds contribute to sustainable aquaculture by reducing dependence on wild fish stocks and mitigating environmental footprints. This review critically evaluates the feasibility of diatom biomass production, its biochemical advantages, and its role in advancing the aquafeed industry. Future research should focus on optimizing diatom strains for customized and tailored feed formulations, advancing biotechnological interventions to enhance biomass yields, and integrating diatoms into circular bioeconomy models for a more resilient and sustainable aquaculture sector.
Zitin Wali, Hirak S. Parikh, Rashi Tyagi et al.· Phycology Journal· 0 citations
Cyanobacteria are increasingly presented as resource-efficient sources of protein, pigments and functional ingredients and as biological inputs that may improve crop production. This critical narrative review evaluates how far those claims are supported for sustainable food production, with emphasis on cultivated edible cyanobacteria, especially commercial Spirulina produced from Limnospira (Arthrospira) platensis, and on selected Nostoc foods. Peer-reviewed literature published from 1 January 2000 to 30 May 2026 was located through PubMed/MEDLINE, the Directory of Open Access Journals, ScienceOpen, FAO AGRIS and OpenAIRE Explore, supplemented by citation searching and verification of article and DOI records. Evidence was appraised for taxonomic precision, compositional representativeness, experimental scale, analytical validity, external validity and the transparency of life-cycle and techno-economic assumptions. Cyanobacterial biomass can supply concentrated protein, minerals, fatty acids and bioactive compounds, while phycocyanin has a distinctive role as a natural blue colourant. However, composition and digestibility vary by strain, cultivation conditions and processing, and many nutritional and food-function claims remain based on in vitro assays or laboratory prototypes. Low inclusion levels can improve the nutritional or technological properties of pasta, bakery and other foods, but colour, odour and flavour often limit acceptance at higher doses. Sustainability is not intrinsic to cyanobacterial production: mixing, temperature control, harvesting and drying can dominate energy demand and cost, and favourable outcomes depend on climate, scale, product form, co-product recovery and credible use of safe circular inputs. Market surveillance also demonstrates the need for source authentication and batch testing for cyanotoxins, metals, microorganisms, composition and allergens. Agricultural biostimulant and biofertiliser pathways are promising but still require stronger field-scale and economic validation. The review concludes that cyanobacteria can contribute to sustainable food systems when strain selection, food-grade process control, low-energy downstream operations, fit-for-purpose product design and transparent environmental accounting are integrated rather than treated as separate optimisation problems.
Deepu Vijayan, S. Biswas, Pratibha Gupta· Asian Journal of Biology· 0 citations
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